Role of Peanuts in Healthy Weight Gain in Athletic Individuals

NCT05426109 | Completed Results

• 1 other identifier: 21-561
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 33
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Many athletes and military personnel desire weight gain primarily as lean mass to improve performance and effectiveness in military/sport endeavors. While much is known about the energy restriction required to reduce body weight, very little is understood about energy and macronutrients needed to promote healthy gains in body weight and lean mass. Typically, athletes are encouraged to increase calorie intake by \~500 kcal/day with an emphasis on adequate protein and carbohydrate, and judicious inclusion of healthy fat-containing calorically-dense foods, including peanuts and peanut butter. This study proposes to evaluate the effect of a 10-week diet and exercise regimen designed to promote healthy weight gain. This will include increasing energy intake by 500 additional kcal/day (above weight maintenance diet) through daily provision of either peanut-based whole foods/snacks (peanut group) or a similar, high-carbohydrate, peanut-free snack (control group) along with a supervised strength training regimen. Results will serve as an important first step in helping understand the gaps in knowledge related to healthy weight gain, designing better weight gain meal plans, not only in athletes and military personnel, but also in clinical populations where promotion of weight gain is advocated.

Conditions

Weight Gain

Keywords

Hypercaloric diet; Weight training; Lean mass; Body composition

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Change in Total Body Mass (Weight)

  Participants will be weighed on a digital scale wearing standardized lab clothes at all scheduled testing sessions throughout the study.

  1-min laboratory measurement assessed at the baseline, 3-wk, 7-wk, and 11-week test sessions.

• Change in Lean Body Mass

  Participants will undergo a dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scan wearing standardized lab clothing at all scheduled testing sessions throughout the study. The scan analysis provides body composition results, including lean (fat-free) mass (kg).

  10-min laboratory measurement assessed at the baseline, 3-wk, 7-wk and 11-week test sessions.

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Change in Resting Metabolic Rate

  60-min laboratory measurement assessed at the baseline, 3-week, and 11-week test sessions.

• Change in Testosterone Levels

  5-min laboratory measurement assessed at the baseline, 3-week, 7-week, and 11-week test sessions.

• Change in Insulin-Like Growth Factor Levels

  5-min laboratory measurement assessed at the baseline, 3-week, 7-week, and 11-week test sessions.

Study Arms (2)

Peanut snacks

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will be provided and consume an extra 500 kcal/day of peanut-containing snacks for 10 weeks.

Other: Peanut snacks

No peanut-containing snacks

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants will be provided and consume an extra 500 kcal/day of snacks without peanuts or peanut-containing foods for 10 weeks.

Other: No peanut-containing snacks

Interventions

Peanut snacks OTHER

Participants will undergo a 10-week diet and weight training regimen to promote healthy weight gain. These participants will receive seven 500 kcal peanut-containing (whole peanuts or peanut butter) snacks each week and consume one snack per day throughout the study. They will also perform a series of weight training exercises supervised by a personal trainer on 3 days per week.

Peanut snacks

No peanut-containing snacks OTHER

Participants will undergo a 10-week diet and weight training regimen to promote healthy weight gain. These participants will receive seven 500 kcal non-peanut-containing high carbohydrate snacks each week and consume one snack per day throughout the study. They will also perform a series of weight training exercises supervised by a personal trainer on 3 days per week.

No peanut-containing snacks

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 40 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Interested in gaining 5 pounds of body weight to enhance effectiveness in sport, fitness, or military training/competition.
• Willing to eat 500 kcal/d and weight train 3x/wk for 10 weeks
• Have weight trained in the past 12 months
• Not taking medications or dietary supplements that influence study results
• Non-smoker
• Without any major medical problems (including high blood pressure or coronary heart disease)

You may not qualify if:

• Nut, peanut, tree nut or legume allergy
• No weight training experience
• Orthopedic limitations that affect ability to weight train
• Currently taking dietary supplements or prescribed pharmacological agents that may affect lean tissue accretion
• Current or past anabolic steroid use
• Have a history of or current signs of disordered eating
• Pregnant
• Abnormal levels of thyroid stimulating hormone or hemoglobin, serum lipids (e.g., fasting triglycerides \>150 mg/dL and/or total cholesterol \>200 mg/dL)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Blacksburg, Virginia, 24061, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Sanchez AD, Reynolds JC, Marinik EL, Kolb RD, Lozano AJ, Davy BM, Hunter GR, Larson-Meyer DE. A Randomized Trial of Healthy Weight Gain in Athletic Individuals. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2024 Aug 1;56(8):1454-1466. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003427. Epub 2024 Mar 23.

  PMID: 38537251 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Weight Gain

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Body Weight Changes; Body Weight; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Dr. Larson-Meyer
• Organization: Virginia Tech

enette@vt.edu

540-231-1025

Study Officials

• Enette Larson-Meyer, PhD

  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: No
• Restrictive Agreement: No

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: Both the investigators and participants are aware of the group assignment since the foods prepared and provided (peanut-containing or no peanut snacks) cannot be masked.
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 15, 2022
• First Posted: June 21, 2022
• Study Start: November 22, 2021
• Primary Completion: November 10, 2022
• Study Completion: November 12, 2024
• Last Updated: June 10, 2025
• Results First Posted: June 10, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-05

Locations

US (1)